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On Sunday his deputy Simon Hughes acknowledged that he was ‘in trouble’ and facing internal ‘chatter’ about his leadership.

Yesterday Mr Clegg’s former chief of staff Richard Reeves said the ‘curtain will probably fall’ on the Coalition before 2015 if the party fails to boost its opinion poll ratings which have slipped into single figures.

And the Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott
warned it would be ‘curtains’ for the party at the next election unless
the economy improved dramatically.

Sources
close to Mr Clegg insist his position as leader is secure. But they
acknowledge the need to ‘differentiate’ the party from the Tories to win
back the legions of voters who have deserted since the election.

Mr Clegg used a speech at the CentreForum think tank to boast he had blocked 'draconian' Tory cuts to welfare, and said the need for 'fairness' meant handouts for 0ver-65s had to be looked at

This
strategy accelerated yesterday, with Mr Clegg claiming he had acted as a
moderating influence on ‘extreme’ Tory demands for welfare cuts in this
month’s Autumn Statement on the economy.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he had
vetoed a proposal from the Prime Minister to end housing benefit for
the under-25s, together with an idea from Iain Duncan Smith to limit
child benefit payments to the first two children.

‘That is the job of the Liberal Democrats – to anchor reform in the sensible centre ground,’ he said.

The result was that a planned
£10billion package of benefit cuts was reduced to £3.8 billion, leaving a
hole that had to be filled by tax rises and cuts to other public
services.

Mr Clegg labelled the two Tory proposals ‘extreme’ – saying they would have ‘penalised’ young people and larger families.

The Deputy Prime Minister also renewed
his call for a halt to pensioner benefits for the better off. Some
Tories are known to back his stance but Mr Cameron has ruled out any
means testing before the next election.

Mr Clegg is under pressure after deputy leader Simon Hughes said after two and a half years of coalition his leadership is 'in trouble'

The winter fuel allowance is worth £200 for pensioner households and £300 for those over 80.

Ros Altmann, of Saga, warned Mr
Clegg’s ‘populist’ call for the means-testing of pensioner benefits
could have damaging consequences.

She added: ‘It would punish those who
have tried to be self-reliant and give much more money to those who
have not saved for their future.

'And then what’s next? Will he tell us
rich pensioners don’t need a state pension either? This could be the
slippery slope to undermining our whole pension system.’

Downing Street ruled out any change to
the universal nature of existing pensioner benefits. A spokesman said:
‘The Prime Minister made a commitment to protect those benefits and he
believes in keeping his promises.’

He
set out his vision for how he could become 'a more permanent fixture of
government', warning his critics in Lib Dem ranks that being a party of
power meant making compromises.

Three opinion polls at the weekend showed the Lib Dems have been overtaken by the UK Independence Party.

A surge in support for the eurosceptic UK Independence Party has pushed the Lib Dems into fourth place in opinion polls. A survey by Survation on Friday and Saturday put the Tories on 30 per cent, Labour 38, UKIP 14 and Lib Dems just 9